BP, Total hit by refinery shutdowns

By IBT Staff Reporter On 07/31/09 AT 7:28 PM

LONDON - British oil major BP shut Europe's second largest oil refinery on Friday after a power outage, while gasoline units were closed in France and Germany by Total and a joint venture including Shell.

At approximately 6 a.m. this morning, BP's Rotterdam refinery experienced a total power failure due to the loss of the externally provided power supply, BP said in an emailed statement on Friday.

All process units were shut down safely without incident.

The company is planning to begin restarting its plant later on Friday.

BP is investigating the cause of the power supply failure, a company spokeswoman said.

The plant has total capacity to process 386,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

In France, gasoline production units were shut due to technical problems.

French major Total has shut a fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at its Gonfreville refinery in France due to a technical malfunction, trade sources said.

The gasoline production unit was shut on Thursday and it will be closed for about two weeks. The refinery has total capacity to process 339,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

In Germany, PCK Schwedt refinery shut a FCC earlier on Friday. It is hoped that the unit will be brought back online on Saturday, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

Its owners are Royal Dutch Shell and BP's Ruhr Oel with 37.5 percent each while an AET, an Agip and Total joint venture, holds the remaining 25 percent. (Reporting by Ikuko Kurahone, David Sheppard and Vera Eckert) (Editing by Peter Blackburn)

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